Quasi-localizations of \(\mathbb{Z}\). (Q2480578)

The authors call `quasi-localization' the localization in the quasi-category of Abelian groups, i.e., a homomorphism \(\alpha\colon A\to B\) is a quasi-localization if for each \(\varphi\in\Hom(A,B)\) there is a natural number \(n\) and a unique \(\psi\in\text{End}(B)\) such that \(n\varphi=\psi\circ\alpha\). Theorem~1. For a torsion-free group \(B\) a monomorphism \(\alpha\colon\mathbb{Z}\to B\) is a quasi-localization if and only if \(\text{End}(B)=\text{End}(B)\alpha(1)\subseteq B\subseteq\mathbb{Q}\text{End}(B)\) as \(\text{End}(B)\)-modules with \(\alpha(1)=1\in\text{End}(B)\). There is a connection with E-rings: (Proposition~1) if \(R\subseteq B\subseteq\mathbb{Q} R\) is a quasi-localzation of \(\mathbb{Z}\) with \(R^+\) torsion-free and \(B/R\) bounded, then \(R\) is an E-ring, and (Proposition~2) if \(R\) is a torsion-free E-ring and \(R\subseteq B\subseteq\mathbb{Q} R\) with \(B/R\) bounded, then \(\alpha\colon\mathbb{Z}\to B\): \(\alpha(1)=1\in R\) is a quasi-localization. Theorem~1 leads to the question of finding groups \(B\) sandwiched between a given ring \(R\) and its divisible hull \(\mathbb{Q} R\) in such a way that \(\text{End}(B)=R\). This is a well-known realization problem of rings as endomorphism rings of Abelian groups. The authors approach the problem by way of forcing families. A family \(\mathcal F\) of ideals of a ring \(R\) is a `forcing family' if \(R=\{\varphi\in\text{End}(R^+)\mid\forall X\in\mathcal F\), \(\varphi(X)\subseteq X\}\). If \(\alpha\colon\mathbb{Z}\to M\) is a quasi-localization, then \(\text{End}(M)\) has a forcing family (Proposition~5). Evidently, a ring \(R\) has a forcing family if and only if the lattice of all ideals is a forcing family, but for the purposes of finding quasi-localizations ``small and nice'' forcing families are needed. There are a large number of results providing forcing families, e.g., Theorem~3. Let \(F\) be a finite Galois extension of \(\mathbb{Q}\) and let \(S\) be the ring of algebraic integers of \(F\). Then \(S\) has a forcing family of prime ideals \(L_1,L_2,\dots\) of \(S\) such that each \(L_i\) lies above a prime number \(p_i\) and \(i\mapsto p_i\) is one-to-one. -- A forcing family for \(\mathbb{Z}[x]\) is used to show that there exists a group \(M\) such that \(\mathbb{Z}[x]\subseteq M\subseteq\mathbb{Q}\mathbb{Z}[x]\) with \(\text{End}(M)=\mathbb{Z}[x]\) (Corollary~4). In the last section polynomial rings in uncountably many commuting variables are considered and Black Box methods are used.